As the proliferation of computers increases, it has become increasingly important to communicate with other nearby computers through local area networks (“LAN”) and the like. It has been found that the usefulness of such arrangements is enhanced by using wireless connections, rather than just hard wired connections. This both allows for the transportability of individual units, and makes easier the connection between even those units that are not intended to be portable. At one point in the art, infra red (“IR”) frequency communication was considered to be the state of the art for communicating between computers and computer peripherals in close proximity to each other, and IR communication is still quite useful when such devices are, indeed, in very close proximity. However, IR has several well known limitations, including the fact that devices must be very close together to communicate, and they must be in a line of sight arrangement. Further, the bandwidth of IR is quite limited, and IR is quite susceptible to interference from radiant heat sources, and the like.
Because of the limitations of IR, radio frequency devices have recently become popular for the interconnection of computers and computer peripheral devices. Some such radio frequency devices have used proprietary signaling schemes. However, it has even more recently become popular to use industry standard frequencies and data transfer protocols, such that devices from different manufacturers can be made to communicate together. Unfortunately, the great proliferation of such devices, using the same frequencies, has led to a situation where there is a potential problem with interference between nearby devices that are not intended to communicate with each other. Further, such radio frequency devices can, potentially, cause interference with many other nearby devices, such as radios, televisions, and the like.
There are opposing interests at work, then. A user might want to maximize the transmission power and/or other operational characteristics of the user's own devices, but this might cause interference with the devices of others, and also might be in violation of applicable governmental regulations which limit the frequency range and transmission power of such devices. It should be noted that the maximum power which can or should be applied to such transmission devices can vary according to several factors. For example, current regulations allow that a greater amount of power be applied when using a directional antenna, as compared to an omni directional antenna.
It would be desirable to have a method or apparatus for easily adapting a wireless data communications apparatus to maximize its operational characteristics while still complying with legal standards. However, to the inventor's knowledge all prior art methods for adapting the power, and/or other transmission characteristics of a wireless data communications device have required operator intervention. This is undesirable because it requires that untrained personnel might have to make decisions and perform operations to make the necessary adjustments. Further, allowing the operator to make adjustments to the transmission characteristics allows for the possibility that users might intentionally optimize the transmission characteristics of their own devices to the detriment of others whose devices might incur interference, and also possibly in contravention of the applicable law.